The biggest surprise at Husky spring practice?

He’s lost about 15 pounds, down to a trimmer-looking 285 on his 6-foot-4 frame. But Senio Kelemete easily was the biggest surprise of the start of the new regime at Husky spring football camp.

Not that the former defensive tackle was playing on the offensive line, as Coach Steve Sarkisian told reporters that move was coming a day before camp opened. But nobody expected Kelemete to be running already with the No. 1 unit on his first official day in the new unit.

Not even Kelemete himself, who assumed this transition was going to take time.

“I thought I was going to redshirt,” he acknowledged, “but they said we actually want you in the starting lineup.”

Kelemete was a bright enough prospect at defensive tackle that last year’s coaching staff elevated him to a starting tackle spot for the season-opening game at Oregon as a true freshman despite his late arrival to fall camp due to some NCAA Clearinghouse confusion.

Sarkisian and his new group, however, feel there is depth on the defensive line, but help needed on the offensive front. And they like Kelemete’s athleticism and feet enough to give him a shot.

“It was probably a week after the new coaches came. They said we need some athletic linemen on the offensive side. I agreed with them,” said Kelemete. “But they never said I’d go up to the No. 1s that quickly.”

Kelemete played offensive line at Evergreen High in White Center and was Seamount League lineman of the year his senior season, so he’s not a total novice. But he had his hands full on the first day of spring trying to block senior Daniel Te’o Nesheim, the Huskies’ best defensive lineman.

“Going against Daniel is like a nightmare,” Kelemete said with a grin. “But he gets me better every play, so that what I like.”

The two are good friends after working together on the tight-knit defensive line last year.

“”I love playing with him. Now we get to go against each other,” Te’o Nesheim said. “Gosh, he has rare on-field strength. He’s maybe not the strongest guy in the weight room, but he’ll push guys around on the field. I don’t know what it is, but he’s just ox-strong.

“I’m sure once he gets confident with his technique and everything, he’ll be great.”